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      April 18, 2017The Anti-ProtestRobert Keiser

      I’m tired of the moon. So what if it
      reflects light. So what if its gravity
      holds us in place. I scream at it but
      clearly it’s inanimate. It has always
      been seen as a giant when it is but
      a windmill. Maybe the government
      is right: It’s better to just listen to
      what the TV says. The truth is a
      terrifying game of risk. In this spirit,
      I write this in the notes section of
      my phone, which reflects a light
      much more useful than the moon,
      if cancerous. The line must break
      somewhere. Why not let it be
      dictated by the length of the screen?
      So you with your ink and quill, do
      what you will. Mine seems lost,
      only a reflection, burning lifelessly
      through my bedroom window. A
      light in the clouds and the dark blue
      sky. The moon’s stupid light, just
      what it is.

      from Poets Respond

      Robert Keiser

      “This poem came after a week or so of consuming news about Syria in preparation for a conversation class with ESL students at a public university in Brazil. I tried to consume news from corporate media, independent journalists, as well as the Syrian government. I thought I was prepared for my class, yet I was surprised by the difficult and illuminating points and questions raised by my students who come from a much different perspective than my own. After several late nights of trying to understand what was happening, I arrived at a familiar place—nausea. I don’t think I came across a single article that wasn’t wrapped up with agendas, attempts to fuel our collective ego, our ideologies, their ratings, and what’s worse, using people’s suffering to accomplish these goals. Maybe I am the naïve one. Maybe it’s because the truth doesn’t sell, or because the truth is much too sad and complex to portray in any twelve-minute news report.”

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